Sunday, March 24, 2019

Having managed to get three successive batches out of the Brewie+ which hit my volume and gravity goals, today I decided to brew a Dry Irish Stout for possible competition. I like the style and I have never brewed it before, so it seemed like a good time to try.

I began by reviewing some articles online about brewing the style, then by considering the BJCP criteria for it. I took one of the published recipes and tweaked it to suit my taste (hopefully). I added Melanoidin malt and Carapils to try to get the beer to have a nice head on it. I used Willamette hops and Bramling Cross for a little twist to the style, while not taking it too far off base. The Bramling Cross hops are used in British stouts and reportedly carries fruity, citrusy notes with some blackcurrant, loganberry, gooseberry, and lemon - sometimes even with vanilla. That should all do nicely in the stout. I'm adding gypsum to help punch up the hops, since I'm hopping it toward the lower end of the style (the style's range is 25-45 IBUs, and I'm aiming for 30).

Following the end of primary fermentation, bottle direct from the primary fermenter and use either 1 large carbonation drop or 5 small tablets per 12-ounce bottle.

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

03/24/2019: I apparently ordered two extra pounds of Maris Otter malt when I ordered grain for this recipe. My original plan was 2.64 gallons of wort at a gravity of 1.042 SG. When I opened the bag from the homebrew shop, I noticed the extra Maris Otter in it (and it was mixed with all the other grains, so extracting it wasn't really an option). To correct that, I scaled the recipe up to 3.5 gallons. Fortunately, I had enough extra specialty malt on hand to reach that volume. The 4.8% ABV is a little above the BJCP criteria for the style but I'm hoping it will be close enough that no one knocks my score down for it in competition.

The Brewie appeared to load the correct amount of water for the mash process, and required no adjustment by me. For the sparge, it loaded about 3 liters more than I wanted, so I removed that excess water before adding the gypsum to it. I held onto the extra water, however, as I wanted to use it if the pre-boil volume was too low later on or the gravity too high.

The mash appeared to go well, with the wort achieving a nice deep brown color pretty early on.

During the mash, before the sparge started, a refractometer reading was 19.0 Brix. That represents standard gravity of approximately 1.081. Assuming the sparge water dilutes that quite a bit, we would still appear to be on track for a 1.048 SG original gravity.

After the sparge, the wort level was much lower than expected. I ended up adding back the water I removed during the mash/sparge process and a little extra to hit the expected depth of 18.0 cm in the kettle pre-boil.

The refractometer registered 11.1 Brix pre-boil at an estimated 15.8 liters (4.17 gallons) in the kettle. That works out to a gravity of approximately 1.046 SG. One of the tilt hydrometers registered the gravity 1.033 SG pre-boil. I figure reality is somewhere between those two figures, perhaps around 1.0395 or 1.040 - which is where my calculations had estimated it would be.

In the fermenter, the gravity read around 1.052 SG. After adding the yeast slurry and some distilled water, I got that to 1.048 with a volume just a hair under the 4-gallon mark in the fermenter. The temperature of the wort at that point registered 59F.

03/25/2019: Roughly 14 hours after the yeast was pitched, we're seeing fermentation activity. Gravity is registering 1.043 SG this morning, down from 1.052 SG last night. The temperature is reading 61F, up from 59F when the yeast was pitched but well below the yeast's optimum range.

03/26/2019: Gravity is down to 1.022 SG and the temperature is up to 66F. This represents 51% attenuation and 3.15% ABV. We're about 10 points away from the estimated final gravity of 1.012.

03/28/2019: Gravity is now 1.015 SG and the temperature is down to 61F. This represents 68% attenuation and 4.2% ABV.

04/02/2019: Gravity has held at 1.015 SG for a few days now, so it should be ready to bottle.

04/07/2019: The beer was bottled today, with four small carbonation tablets per bottle (medium carbonation). A flat, warm sample from the end of the bottling process had a nice chocolatey and roasty flavor to it. I'm looking forward to the finished beer.

With some satisfaction that the issue with the Brewie+ overshooting target volumes being possibly solved (by removing excess water after loading), I decided to try one more recipe to see if I could consistently hit my volume and gravity targets. I decided to try another Pale Ale with a blend of Simcoe, Cascade, Citra, and Amarillo hops.

Keep fermenter in an area of the basement with an ambient temp of 60-62F, which should keep the beer in the same temperature range throughout fermentation.

When FG is reached, prime and bottle.

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

03/10/2019: The final volume was right at the 2.5 gallon mark in the fermenter. The yeast took off about 12 hours after pitching. The ambient basement temperature held the beer at 60-62F throughout fermentation so it was a nice clean ferment. Final gravity reached 1.019 SG.

03/19/2019: The beer was bottled today, using carbonation tablets to a "high" level of carbonation (since recently I've noticed many of the beers seemed pretty flat).

03/24/2019: I took a bottle of the beer and placed it in the fridge to test carbonation and flavor. It's a little early but I wanted to know if we were getting carbonation or not.

Sunday, March 17, 2019

My last two attempts at an Irish Red Ale were (at least to me) disappointing. The first did not taste all like an Irish Red to me, though it was a very drinkable beer. The second ended up way over volume and therefore came out kind of bland. This time around, I'm babysitting the Brewie+ to make sure I get the results I am looking for.

This recipe began as one of Gordon Strong's, but I've modified it slightly to see if I can get a nice head with long retention and a little more reddish color.

Bottling will take place after the above. Bottles will be held in an environment at the upper end of the WLP004 yeast's temperature range.

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

03/17/2019: I "lied" to the Brewie+ and told it we were loading only 2 pounds of grain into the system, so that it would allow me to specify smaller amounts of water than it likes to permit. Despite this, the Brewie did load more mash and sparge water than I specified. I dipped out and discarded this extra water to ensure a successful result and proper original gravity. A pH reading during the early stage of the mash reported 5.3 to 5.4.

During the boil, my wife told me that she thought she smelled chocolate chip cookies baking, which gives you some idea of how nice the aroma was.

I had to adjust the water level during the mash to get it where I wanted it, removing some from both the mash and sparge amounts, but they were closer this time than they've been. Then again, the amount at the boil was a little low, too, so I ended up adding most of a 90-ounce water addition pre-boil. Original gravity registered 1.057 SG on the Tilt Hydrometer in the fermenter, at a temperature of 68F. I did not pitch yeast immediately because I decided to grow my package of WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast to the point that I can split it off and do a Dry Irish Stout next weekend with the rest. I'll pitch the yeast tomorrow night. I'll save half the yeast for the stout, which should get into the fermenter next weekend (hopefully).

03/18/2019: The yeast starter exceeded my expectations by overflowing the 1L flask despite being constantly stirred with a stir plate. I saved half for the Dry Irish Stout I am planning to brew next. At the time of yeast pitch at approximately 10pm, gravity registered 1.056 SG and temperature read 61F.

03/21/2019: The gravity is now 1.032 SG, and the temperature is 63F. This is about 46% attenuation, so the yeast has a way to go yet.

03/24/2019: I added some glucoamylase enzyme to try to encourage further fermentation, as the gravity is registering 1.023 SG - outside the style's recommended range of 1.010 SG to 1.014 SG.

03/28/2019: Gravity has dropped to 1.007 SG today, temperature 61F. That's 88.7% attenuation and 7.2% ABV. The enzyme has taken the beer far past what I expected, and gravity still seems to be dropping.

04/03/2019: Gravity has dropped all the way to 0.999 SG. That represents 7.61% ABV and a hypothetical 101.75% attenuation. I didn't expect the beer to taste so great, having been fermented down that low, but a sample pulled from the fermenter was quite drinkable - but a bit too light in color and perhaps a bit too thin in body to be a true Irish Red Ale now. I'm considering entering it into competition as an experimental "Brut Irish Red Ale".

04/07/2019: The gravity has held at (essentially) 1.000 SG for several days. I bottled it today with four small carbonation tablets per bottle (medium carbonation).

Recently, I have struggled to get the desired final volume out of the Brewie+ system. To try and resolve that issue, I've decided to brew a couple of recipes and babysit the mash and sparge process to see where the problem is occurring, as well as double-checking my calculations to ensure they are correct.

The mash schedule began with a mash in at 104F, followed by 20 minutes at 140F, and 40 minutes at 158F. Mash out was 15 minutes at 168F.

BeerSmith estimated the following qualities for the beer:

BJCP Style: 18.B Pale American Ale

Batch Size: 2.5 gallons (actual was 2.5 gallons)

Original Gravity: 1.054 SG (actual was 1.054 SG)

Pre-boil Gravity: 1.034 SG (actual was 1.047 SG)

Final Gravity: 1.011 SG (actual was 1.013 SG)

SRM: 5.8

ABV: 5.5%

BU/GU Ratio: 0.656

Boil schedule:

90 minutes: No addition

15 minutes: Irish Moss

10 minutes: Brewtan B, Mandarina Bavaria

5 minutes: Citra

0 minutes: Chill to 68F

Fermentation schedule is to place this in the corner of the basement with an ambient temp of 60F and leave it there. (In practice, this worked well. The beer never exceeded a temp of 62F throughout the brew.)

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

03/09/2019: Thanks to carefully measured water, the beer came out very close in gravity and volume to the expected values. I had to add a little water to hit 2.5 gallons, at which point the gravity also hit my target value of 1.054 SG.

03/17/2019: The beer has stayed within a degree of 61F throughout fermentation. Gravity is down to 1.013 SG, which is within a point of the expected final gravity. I expect to bottle the beer within the next day or two.

03/19/2019: The beer was bottled with 5-6 small carbonation tablets per bottle. Yield was 24 bottles.

Last year, I entered the 23rd annual homebrew competition at Barley's Ale House in Columbus. To my shock and amazement, I won the competition with my Belgian style Dark Strong Ale. On March 15, Angelo Signorino, Jr., and his brewing assistants Tate and Singer made my dream of brewing a professional-sized batch of beer a reality.

Angelo preparing to load the first bag of barley, and me preparing to stir

The day began at 10am when I arrived at Barley's. We went over the recipe to make sure it looked correct. Not surprisingly when dealing with pros like the guys at Barley's, it did.

Seventeen bags of grain (plus a bit, I think) went into the mash tun. The Barley's crew did the heavy lifting since my shoulders are pretty arthritic, but I helped stir the mash for a while and helped load the hops. If you don't think that brewers like these work hard, then it's only because you've never seen them mash in. Lugging the big bags to the brewing system, dumping the contents into the mash tun, and stirring to ensure the grain is properly hydrated is a lot of work. I only did a very small part of that and it was all my shoulders could handle. I'm very appreciative and grateful to the guys for all they did.

When the mash was finished, the guys unloaded the grain from the mash tun. It weighed over 800 pounds going in. After soaking up some water, I'm sure it was far heavier coming out.

Loading the grain and unloading the spent grain was a lot, but the heavy lifting didn't end there. The guys had to haul those large white containers out to the street, where a farmer took it with him.

With the spent grain disposed of responsibly, the effort turned to cleaning the mash tun while the wort started heating to a boil in the kettle.

False bottom in the mash tun, designed to keep the grain out and let the wort through

Yeah, that's someone inside the mash tun cleaning it!

Once the mash tun was cleaned, the wort had just about worked its way to a boil. This particular wort really likes to foam, as you can see in the image below.

Hops, yeast nutrient, and Irish Moss all made their way into the kettle... along with 55 pounds of Belgian candi syrup (seen below). That is probably more than I have used in my entire home brewing history!

55 pounds of Belgian Candi Syrup

While all this was going on, the fermenter was sanitized. We then shook up the massive bags of Wyeast 1762 yeast and loaded those into the fermenter before sealing it up.

Now that's a lot of yeast!

The wort was oxygenated and chilled as it made its way into the #4 fermenter.

Seeing my beer's name (temporarily) emblazoned on a 10-barrel fermenter was a proud moment.

I watched, with great respect, the hard work that Angelo and his team do every day. It was an absolute pleasure to hang out with them for the day, and is something I will never forget.

I'm looking forward to seeing this beer again when it comes out of the tap on April 14!

Sunday, March 3, 2019

I'm a big fan of the Tripel Karmeliet Belgian Tripel. I've wanted to brew something similar since I started home brewing. My last couple of attempts have gotten close, but have lacked the bright lemony flavor and aroma I get from the real beer. Last time around I had a touch of that flavor.

This time I'm making some changes to dial it up a notch. I'm adding more corn sugar to dry it out somewhat, doubling the amount of lemon peel in the boil, shifting the hop load closer to the end of the boil to pick up more of Hallertau Mittelfruh's citrus notes, and even including a bit of citric acid in the boil. I'm hoping that the addition of acid will brighten up the hop flavor, and the slight drying out will make the citrus clearer.

Following the boil, the Brewie has been instructed to chill the wort down to 67F. The White Labs WLP720 yeast has an optimal range of 70-75F. My fermentation plan is to use a heat wrap to keep it at 69F or above until primary fermentation is complete, but no cooling.

Post-Brew Notes and Observations

03/03/2019: The mash went off fine. Early in the 90-minute boil, I checked the gravity. It registered 1.055 SG using a refractometer. It should have registered 1.056 before the boil, so that concerned me. I opened the lid on the Brewie to increase the boil-off and help further reduce the gravity.

Original gravity came up as 1.063 SG after the boil, and volume came up as just under 3.5 gallons. Last time around, with the same recipe and slightly less water, I got 2.25 gallons. This time with 0.2 gallons more sparge water specified in the control panel, I ended up with over a gallon more wort.

Frustrated, I decided to use this as another opportunity to experiment with using a different yeast to ferment the same wort. I pitched Mangrove Jack's Tripel ale yeast into the 0.75 gallon batch and the full packet of White Labs WLP720 Sweet Mead Yeast into the other. It will be interesting to see how these two variations of the recipe differ.

I reached out to the tech support folks for the Brewie+ because this "overshooting" of the final volume is becoming an unpleasant trend. They tell me the official smallest batch size for the Brewie+ is 2.6 gallons. They asked me to run a test and report the results, which I've done. If I understand what they've told me (and I may not have), the system loaded 5.3 gallons of water for a recipe that specified only 4.22 gallons. That would mean it loaded about 1.1 gallons more than it should have. That would be just about on target with the results I had tonight (3.5-ish gallons when 2.5 gallons were expected).

03/05/2019: The gravity has dropped from the initial 1.063 SG to 1.035 SG today. Brewers Friend reports that this is 43% attenuation and 3.68% ABV, with active fermentation still going on. The low ambient basement temperature has kept the beer well below the yeast's optimum 70-75F range. It's currently reading 66F. When the beer is at least 66% attenuated, I'll apply a heat wrap and try to keep the temp closer to 75F until fermentation finishes. I didn't put a Tilt Hydrometer in the smaller batch so I don't know how it's doing, but I suspect it's probably much more attenuated since it's a smaller amount of wort with a lot more yeast cells to start with.

03/06/2019: The gravity is now reading 1.019 SG, which is around 68% attenuation. I placed the fermenter in an insulated bag and configured a temperature controller to keep the fermenter at 75F until fermentation finishes. Until I had done that, the beer's temperature had not exceeded 68F.

03/16/2019: The beer has been in bottles since last weekend, but a test bottle that was chilled and poured showed virtually no carbonation. This has been a recurring problem with this recipe.

03/24/2019: Another bottle was placed in the fridge to chill. The portion of the wort fermented with the Mangrove Jack Tripel yeast was bottled today. It had a very fruity, somewhat banana-forward, aroma. It will be interesting to see how it turns out. Final gravity on that batch read 6.9 Brix or an estimated 1.005 SG according to BeerSmith 3. That would put the beer at 7.65% ABV.